Yet another tiny house blog…

Siding, Trim, and Wiring

We didn’t get as much done as we had hoped to after Thanksgiving. The screws I had bought for the siding were too short and we had to send mom out to get longer ones. Then we ended up running out of screws on the last lower panel. It would help if screw manufacturers would put the quantity on the package and not just the weight. While I’m griping… Ryobi and Snap-on are obviously prejudiced against women. It takes me 5 minutes, both hands, and both knees to wrestle the battery out of their tools and chargers and I’m not exactly petite. I’d like to meet the ape-handed man who designed them…

We got the bottom part of the siding up all around the house. My brother and his wife were here for the holiday weekend and he built returns at the eaves to transition around to the gable side (or vice versa… I still don’t fully understand it all).

Dad taking a break for a leftover-turkey sandwich.

Mom ran silicone around all of the windows.

We have my brandy-new sister-in-law, Jess, to thank for the pictures.

During the week, I added Z-flashing to the tops of the siding panels to keep the rain out where it meets the upper panel. The flashing leaves a 1/2-inch of metal showing over the bottom panel. I guess some people cover this with trim or incorporate it into a board-and-batten look but I kind of like it exposed. It’s shiny and clean and doesn’t really stand out too much from the light gray paint.

I cut the panels to fit the upper part of the house and screwed them in. I had some trouble with the first two lower panels we installed. The gap was bigger at the top where the two panels overlapped and I couldn’t line up the upper panels. I’m still not sure how this happened but I think the trailer tongue might have thrown us off. Luckily, my aunt was over and I wrangled her and mom into doing the heavy lifting while I unscrewed and leveled the bottom panels.

Mom caulking around the upper windows.

I had planned on going with a vented vinyl soffit but I wasn’t really sold on the look of the vinyl with the T1-11. My brother helped me brainstorm another option and I decided to go with a continuous strip of vented aluminum framed by wood trim. There was a lot of trial and error as mom and I tried to figure out the best way to attach it. My brother had suggested I add nailing strips at the rafters, which I did but I think I should have gone with wider strips so they were better secured to the rafters. I stapled aluminum screening to the underside of the eaves to keep the bugs out. Then we stapled the aluminum vent to the underside of two 1×2 trim pieces and I screwed each of the trim pieces to the rafters. I ended up using the nailing strips as support to keep the vent and trim level. I added a strip of 1×2 below the soffit for extra support.

I trimmed around the windows with 1×4 cedar boards and mom, once more, did the caulking. She, too, has joined the We-Hate-Silicone Club.

Safety Supervisor modeling the proper cold weather work wear.

I finally broke down and bought some overalls. And the neighborhood heaved a collective sigh of relief that they no longer will be subjected to over-exposed skin as they drive by.

The soffit on the gable ends is 1×6 cedar boards, as is all of the fascia. The corner boards are 1×3’s abutted to 1×4’s.

I’m a little concerned I might develop a taste for metal…

The past two work days have been bitterly cold, in the 20s, but the next few days are supposed to be in the 40s and 50s and I hope to get the rest of the outside work done. I still need to finish up the trim on the other gable end and install the door and roof.

I am adding an addendum… I just realized the title includes wiring and I never mentioned it! The electrician has all the wires run but they aren’t connected to anything. I will be adding separate posts for the plumbing and wiring once they are finished.